Securitization People and Markets

Morgan Stanley has hired Michael Garrity, a high-yield services analyst from Putnam Investments. He will report to Bill Reiland, head of North American credit research at Morgan Stanley. Garrity will fill a position vacated by Bob Packer, who has moved internally to the integrated credit group--which monitors and forecasts credit ratings for prospective issuers. Reiland says Morgan Stanley vetted the hire through Putnam before making Garrity a formal offer. The analyst will make the move to New York next month.

Bank One Capital Markets has made three new hires to its London-based asset-backed securitization team. On the origination side, Pedram Mazaheri and Cristina Baca have joined from Enron (Europe) and Nischal Patel has joined as a credit underwriter. Patel is also from Enron. The hires were made to beef up the firm's fledgling European ABS effort, says Brooks Crankshaw, head of European ABS.

BNP Paribas is looking to hire one or two senior analysts for its high-grade research team. Joe Labriola, head of U.S. investment-grade research, says his team of five senior analysts and three associates still lacks sector expertise in chemicals and paper and forest products. He says the French bank has not had an analyst covering those areas for over a year, because it has not been able to find an acceptable candidate. However, Labriola says he is zeroing in on a couple of prospects, and hopes to make a hire fairly soon. BNP Paribas also has had a hole to fill in the energy and utilities sectors since it released Dan Scotto, former co-head of research with Labriola, last December.

Joseph Pimbley has joined insurance company American Capital Access as a credit derivatives portfolio manager in its structured finance department, says Cathy Bailey, a spokeswoman at ACA. Pimbley started last Thursday. He will report to Maryam Muessel, coo. Muessel heads the structured finance group and overseas the firm's asset-backed security and collateralized debt obligation portfolio management and structuring. Pimbley will specialize in managing and structuring credit derivative products within that group, including CDOs. Pimbley's position is a newly created one, says Bailey, reflecting growth in the structured finance business of ACA. She adds that the department may add more people in the future but declined to be more specific.

David Walker has resigned from J.P. Morgan Securities where he was co-head of U.S. high-yield research, according to a colleague. The reason for his departure could not be determined. Walker did not return calls placed to his office or his residence. A former colleague says he has decided to do something "sort of" like a hedge fund, but would not be more specific. It could not be determined whether J.P. Morgan plans to replace Walker. One firm official says that Doug Conn, the other co-head of U.S. high-yield research, is currently the sole head. Walker reported to Chris Linneman and Peter Schmidt-Fellner, co-heads of high-yield, both of whom did not return calls.

XL Capital Assurance, a New York-based financial guarantor, has hired two securitization veterans for its consumer asset securitization group. Seleena Baijnauth joins as a senior analyst from J.P. Morgan Securities where she reported to Matt Whallen, v.p. in charge of home equity ABS. Lima Ekram joins as a v.p. from Financial Guarantee Insurance Company (FGIC) where she reported to David Steel, managing director and head of mortgage-backed securities, says Mitch Karig, a spokesman for XL. Both will report to Peggy Wallace, managing director and head of the group. Karig says that Ekram will be managing MBS transactions while Baijnauth will analyze transactions for all asset classes. Both are newly created positions, and Karig says the new hires reflect growth in XL's consumer asset securitization group, currently comprising five people. No additional hires are planned at this time, he adds.

UBS Warburg has added veteran mortgage-backed securities analyst Laurent Gauthier to its securitized research team in New York. He will be a director and report to Laurie Goodman, securitized product research chief. Gauthier joins from Banc of America Securities, where he was a v.p. reporting to mortgage research chief Sharad Chaudhary. Goodman says Gauthier was a good fit because he has analyzed and modeled a variety of securitized products, including adjustable-rate mortgages and home equity loans. The slot opened up when Phillip Millman, who had been the group's ABS analyst, transferred internally to the firm's information technology group.

Robert Chambers, a former high-yield energy analyst in the Houston office of Lehman Brothers, and number two in his sector on the Institutional Investor 2001 All-America Fixed-Income Research Team, has left the research group to start a hedge fund at the firm. Energy analysts at other firms say he had wanted to start a hedge fund for some time, and offered Lehman the option of having him start the fund internally or on his own. Chambers referred further questions to Bill Ahearn, a firm spokesman. Ahearn did not respond to questions by press time last Thursday.

The Royal Bank of Scotland is looking to add two credit analysts to its London-based European research team, according to a bank insider. The team currently has seven analysts and will add a utilities specialist and a strategist, he says. The additions are being made to meet the demand of new business coming from Europe. RBS recently began to expand its debt capital markets business outside the U.K. into France and Spain (BW, 1/6, 1/13).